Tint, 


v^wui    ram    l^mo   #b47 


IVo.     6%» 


WHAT  CAN  I  DO? 


THIS  is  a  question  that  is  often  asked  by  those  on  when* 
the  matter  of  personal   religion    is   pressed,  and  al- 
though sometimes  asked  in  a  spirit  of  ev;  sion,  is  frequent- 
ly asked  in  sincerity.     We   propose  to   answer  this  ques- 
tion, and  to  show  some  things  at  least  tint  may  be  done  to 
•  secure  eternal  life. 

Before  specifying  those  things,  it  may  be  proper  to  say, 
that  none  of  them  are  necessary  prerequisites  to  a  believ- 
ing reception  of  Christ.  It  is  the  duty  y£  every  one  wao. 
hears  the  gospel  to  receive  it  at  once,  aci  without  del«y, 
or  qualification,  to  accept  the  Savicur  just  as  he  is  offered, 
without  waiting  for. any  more  feeling,  any  more  conviction. 
T)f  sin,  any  more  preparation  of  heart,  or  any  better  stato 
of  soul  than  when  there  is  an  honest  desire  to  be  say  3d  " 
from  sin  in  its  guilt  and  •pollution.  To  mppose  that  it  is 
needful  to  wait  for  any  protracted  preparation,  any  wash- 
ing of  the  outer  scales  of  the  leprosy  before  coining  to  the 
great  physician,  is  to  contradict  the  w  lole  tenor  of  the 
gospel,  which  calls  on  the  sinner  to  come  to  repentance,  on 
the  sick  to  eome  to  the  Physician,  on  tha  heavy-laden  to 
come  to  the  relieving  hand  that  can  give  them  rest.  But 
as  there  are  some  who  say,  "  We  know  not  how  to  come 
to  Christ,  we  find  no  real  of  active  interest  in  our  hearts 
on  this  subject,  our  judgments  are  convinced  but  our 
hearts  are  utterly  unmoved,  and  yet  we  are  willing  to  dq 
whatever  may  be  done  to  awake  a  deeper  interest  in  our 
bosoms,  and  bring  us  to  the  point  of  a  si  icere  and  hearty 
surrender  to  Christ,  if  we  only  knew  wlat  we  could  dc." 
"We  will  try  to  meet  this  desire,  and  to  s]  ecify  to  such  per^ 
cons  some  things  that  they  can  do,  an<i  if  tbey  are  not 
mistaken  in  this  view  of  their  feelings,  they  will  be  willing 


'1      *  WHAT    CAN    I    DO  I 

to  do  these  things,  and  the  doing  of  them  will  either  impel 
them  farther  forward  towards  the  cross,  or  show  them  that 
there  is  some  wedge  of  gold  or  Babylonish  garment,  that 
is  hidden  beneath  the  tent. 

1  You  can  beg  hi  to  consider  the  question  of  personal  re- 
ligion. It  is  the  want  of  consideration  that  causes  much 
of  the  indifference  you  feel  on  the  subject,  Have  you  ever 
given  it  one  hour  of  serious  reflection  ?  Have  you  ever 
retired  to  your  room  and  there  carefully,  thought  on  this 
matter,  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  with  a  sense  of  his 
omniscient  scrutiny  1  Have  you  not  rather  banished  it 
from  your  thoughts,  and  tried  to  avoid  what  would  pro- 
duce serious  reflection  'I  Have  you  not  been  afraid  to  go 
alone,  and  face  to  face,  with  an  unseen,  but  all-seeing  God, 
gaze  on  this  high  and  awful  question  ?  This  then  you  Can 
do.  You  can  retire  to-day, 'or  to-night,  to  some  private 
place,  and  there  think  of  the  fact  that  you  are  a  sinner,, 
that  you  are  making  God  your  enemy  every  day,  that  yofi 
are  standing  in  a  path  that  for  six  thousand  years  has  been 
sWept  by  the  whirlwind  of  his  wrath,  that  this  awful  tem- 
pest may  be  unloosed  at  any  moment,  that  there  is  nothing 
.between  you  and  the  bottomless  abyss  but  a  thin  partition ' 
that'  may  give  way  in  an  instant  by  disease  or  accident, 
that  you  are  hanging  all  the  concerns  ©f  eternity  on  a  mere 
perhaps,  and  that  thousands  have  perished  by  doing  just 
what  you  are  doing  now.  You  can  think  of  Calvary- — - 
why  Jesus  suffered,  why  you  can  treat  those  sufferings  so 
lightly,  why  you  think  so  little  of  a  Saviour's  blood,  and 
how  fearful  a  thing  it  must  be  to  have  that  blood  lying  ne- 
glected a-t  your  feet.  Will  you  consider  this  matter  not 
once,  but  again,  and  again,  unfcil  you  feel  that  you  are  in 
danger  and  must  have  a  deliverer? 

2.  Yo  i  can  pray.  Yon  say  that  you  cannot  regenerate 
yourself,  or  change  by  any  direct  act  your  affections ;  that 
God  alone  can  do  these  things.  Has  not  God  said  that  he 
is  willing  to  do  them  for  all  who  desire  it?  If  you  really 
desire  these  things,  you  can  pray  for  them,  for  prayer  is 
only  the  offering  up  of  our  desires  to  God  for  things  agree- 
able to  his  will,  in  the  name  of  Christ  Jesus.  Then  as 
you  ponder,  you  may  pray,    and   at   least   say,    "  God  be 


what    CA«    I    DO  :  o 

merciful  to  me  a  winner,"  and  if  this  prayer  is  sincerely 
offered,  you  have  tire. assurance  of  actual  fact  in  regard 
to  the  certainty  with  which  it  will  be  answered. 

3.  You  can  read.  You  have  the  Bible.  Read  the  51st 
Psalm ;  the  53rd  and  55th  of  Isaiah ;  the  12th  to  16th 
chapters  of  Luke  ;  the  3d  chapter  of  John  ;  the  4th  and 
5th  of  2d  Corinthians,  or  similar  portions  of  Scripture, 
which  may  readily  be  found.  You  can  get  religious  books, 
such  as  James's  or  Henry's  Anxious  Inquirer,  the  Great 
Question,  the  Way  of  Life,  Baxter's  Call,  the  Memoirs  of 
McChjeyne,  Henry  Martyn,  or  some  of  the  many  excellent 
'works  so  easily  accessible  by  the   distributing  agencies  of 

sligioufi  literature.     Read  them  daily,  and  keep  your 
soul  thus  in  contact  with  the  great  facts  of  religion.     Do* 
this  every  day. 

4.  You  can  avoid  what  will  di  sipate  serious  reflection. 
Yuu  know  what  this  is  by  experience,  for  you  have  sought 
it  in  various  forms.  Thi  the  things,  the  reading, 
and  talking,  and  acting,   that  are  unfriendly  to  religious 

1:1,  you  know  better  than  any  one  can   tell  you,  and 
things  you  can  avoid,   and  thus   fence  in  th#  soil  to 
some  extent  from  the  fowls  that  piek  up  the  seed. 

5.  You  can  seek  the  means  of  instruction.  ^  You  can  go 
to  your  pastor,  or  some  Christian  friend  and  ask  him  to  ex- 
plain the  way  of  salvation  to  you.  You  would  do  so  with 
your  physician  if  your  body  was  disordered,  why  not  with 
your  spiritual  physician  when  your  soul  is  disordered? 
You  can  not  only  attend  church  on  the  Sabbath,  but  you 
can  attend  the  weekly  lecture  and  prayer-meeting  The 
very  reason  that  make's  you  shrink  from  attending  these 
meetings  is  the  reason  that  should  take  you  there,  if  you 
are  in  earnest  in  what  you  say.  *'  Then  shall  ye  seek  me 
and  find  me  when  ye  shall  search  for  mes  with  all  your 
heart." 

6.  You  can  resolve  to  abandon  all  that  is  sinful.  You 
will  find  your  real  dtfji-culty  here.  You  love  sin,  in  some 
form,  this  is  the  reanreason  of  >our  difficulty  in  coming  to 
Christ.  Now  you  must  choose  between  sin  and  salvation. 
If  you  are  unwilling  to  give  up  your  hold  of  the  one,  you 
must  give  up  your  hope  of  the  other.     If  you  would  know 


4  WKAT    £AN    1    DO  .' 

your  sins  Lake  up  the  Decalogue,  or  Gal.  v  :  10 — 28,  or 
Col.  iii :  5 — 15,  or  similar  portions  of  God's  word,  and 
you  will  readily  discover  them.  But  you  do  not  need  even 
these  special  inquiries.  You  know  them  already.  Are 
you  willing  to  endeavor,  from- this  time,  to  abandon  them, 
as  far  as  in  you  lies  ? 

7.  You  can  resolve  to  begin  the  discharge  of  every  known 
duty.  You  know  what  God  requires  of  man.  This  he 
requires  of  every  one,  and  hence  of  .you,  and  he  requires 
it  of  you  now.  Your  secret  feeling  is  that  these  duties  are 
obligatory  only  on  a  Christian.  But  this  is  a  mistake. 
They  rest  on  all,  and  a  Christian  is  only  trying  to  do, 
what  is  binding  on  every  one,  and  you  among  the  rest. 
You  ought  to  do  these  duties,  whether  you  are  a  Christian 
or  not  The  proof  that  you  are  willing  to  be  a  Christian 
will  be  found  in  the  fact  that  you  are  willing  to  begin  the 
discharge  of  these  duties.  If  unwilling,  you  do  not  desire 
really  to  be  a  child  of  God ;  if  willing,  begin  them  now, 
for  they  are  binding  on  you  now;  you  are  a  rebellious 
ohikl,  but  still  a  child,  and  bound  to  do  all  the  duties  of  a. 
child,  a$d  if  you  wish  to  return  to  your  Father,  that  wish 
will  be  manifested  by  beginning  to  obey  him  as  a  child, 
Here  again  is  the  second  great  test  of  your  sincerity. 

8  }'ou  canmthcn  try  to  look  to  Jesus  for  pard  n,  f  r 
strength,  for  holiness,  for  happiness,  and  for  eternal  life. 
You  can  try  to  believe  that  Jesus  will  do  as  he  has  pro- 
mised to  do,  save  those  who  strive  honestly  to  trust  and 
obey.  him.  Is  it  not  strange  that  this  should  require  any 
effort?  Then  try  these  things,  and  as  you  take  one  step, 
you  will  see  more  readily  how  and   when  to  tak£  another. 


*..» 


RICHMOND,        VAI 
PRE-9BTTERIAN     COMMITTER    Of     PUBIJGATIO? 


Hollinger  Corp. 
PH  8.5 


